[Numpy-discussion] multiprocessor machine

[hinsen at dirac.cnrs-orleans.fr]

> I just put a second processor in my computer and it seems Numpy don't use
> it.
> 
> Is Numpy able to use 2 processors? From wich version does't work?

NumPy uses only one processor, and I am not even sure I'd want to
change that. I use biprocessor machines as well and I have adapted my
time-critical code to them (parallelization via threading), but
the parallelization is almost always at a higher level than
NumPy operations. In other words, I give one NumPy operation to each
processor rather than have both work on the same NumPy operation.

I'd prefer to build a parallelizing general-purpose library on top
of NumPy, ideally supporting message passing as well. Would anyone
else be interested in this? I have a nicely packaged MPI support
module for Python (to be released next week in a new version of
ScientificPython), so that part is already done.

Which reminds me: there once was a parallelization project mailing
list on the old Starship, which disappeared during the move due to a
minor accident. Is there interest to revive it? I now have a
cluster of 20 biprocessors to feed, and I'd like to provide it with
only the best: Python code ;-)

Konrad.
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Konrad Hinsen                            | E-Mail: hinsen at cnrs-orleans.fr
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